BY CALVIN R. TRICE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

HARRISONBURG -- A Shenandoah Valley aviation company will more than double its local work force with a $4.1 million expansion.

Rockingham County-based Dynamic Aviation will expand its plane modification and maintenance operation at its headquarters in Bridgewater, Gov. Mark R. Warner's office announced yesterday.

The expansion will add 206 jobs, including avionics technicians, air-frame technicians, engine-repair technicians and electricians, officials said.

Dynamic Aviation leases and operates planes for data gathering, fire management, insecticide applications and other uses.

It employs 150 people at its Bridgewater site and 65 more at bases in California, Florida, Mexico and in Central America and the Caribbean, said Michael Stoltzfus, the company's president and chief operating officer.

Company leaders chose to expand at company headquarters rather than at sites in Maryland, Oklahoma and West Virginia, the governor's office said.

Said Stoltzfus: "The combination of the beauty of the Shenandoah Valley, the work ethic found in Virginia, the focus of state and local government on economic development and the proximity to a growing customer base convinced us that the right place to grow was here."

The growth of Dynamic Aviation's customer base in Northern Virginia has been fueling the company's growth, Stoltzfus said .

The expansion, which is already under way, could take up to four years to finish.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Rockingham County officials and the Shenandoah Valley Partnership to keep the expansion in-state.

Source: TimesDispatch.com